EggIndustry ❙ 5
farm to house more birds in its cage-free configuration than were housed in cages.
More cage-free hens on two floors
This Midwestern farm had nine layer
houses that are 50 feet by 730 feet. The farm
housed 891,000 hens at 67 square inches per
bird in high-rise cages. Using Vencomatic
Bo Legg Terrace aviaries on both floors of
the houses, the cage-free configuration of the
Conversion of high-rise laying houses to two floors of cage-free aviaries
remodeled buildings will allow them to house
per house will increase the number of hens housed on the farm.
1,143,000 hens, a 28 percent increase. Manure
storage is moved out of the layer house, so there is
Tom Lohr, director of international poultry sales,
some new construction required.
Henning Companies, said that before making the
decision of whether to undertake a house conversion
or build new, an egg producer needs to answer a few
❯❯ Lenders will be cautious toward
questions. "What is the value of the building permit?"
cage-free egg expansion
he said. "Are there limitations on how the new permit
www.WATTAgNet.com/articles/27052
can be used? In most areas of the country, it's more
difficult to obtain a permit for new construction and it
The same type of conversion is also being untakes more time to gain approval."
dertaken on the pullet farm that supplies this layer
Lohr explained that the cost of remodeling an existcomplex. High-rise pullet cages were removed and
ing house with new cage-free equipment has a huge
Vencomatic Unistart systems, designed to prepare
variance due to the condition the house is in and how
the pullets for life in Bo Legg Terrace aviaries, were
well the dimensions of the house will accommodate
installed. Just as in the layer houses, utilizing both
the cage-free system. He said that conversion cost averfloors of the pullet houses allows for more pullets to be
ages $28-33 per hen.
housed in the aviary systems than in the highrise cages.
New construction versus conversion
If customers are asking for more cagefree eggs, the decision of whether to convert
existing housing from cage to cage-free isn't
always a simple one. On this farm, the layer
houses dated from 1992 and 1993 and the pullet houses from 2003. All of the houses were
in good condition, and the concrete slabs, roofs
and walls were all structurally sound and were
suitable for continued use. Keeping the buildings in place on the layer farm also allowed for
existing egg tunnels and conveyors to be used
as well as the feed bins on both farms.
August 2016 ❙ www.WATTAgNet.com
Interior walls, ceilings, insulation, and the floor joists and trusses that
supported the cages are removed and discarded during the conversion
process.

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